Out of sight, out of mind: an apt description for the role trash plays in our daily lives. Where does it go, in its invisible voyage starting from our trash cans? A creative program at M.I.T. challenges the "out of sight, out of mind" perception of trash, asking, "Why do we know so much about the supply chain, and so little about the 'removal-chain'?"

The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology presents the free lecture, "Trash Track: Reverse Engineering the Removal Chain," on Wednesday October 26 at 5:30 P.M. at the Geological Lecture Hall (24 Oxford St., Cambridge). The free lecture will be followed by a public reception at the Peabody Museum (11 Divinity Ave.).

Trash Track at M.I.T. uses technology to track precisely where trash goes. The program dreams of using the results to "build more efficient and sustainable infrastructures [and] promote behavioral change." By revealing the path trash takes from garbage can to its final destination, both manufacturers and consumers will be able to make more sustainable choices.

The speaker is Dietmar Offenhuber, team leader of M.I.T.'s SENSEable City Lab, a project that probes the potential of technology to facilitate a new awareness and literacy for understanding urban systems.

Watch Trash Track's video here:

Tracking the path of an aluminum can in Seattle. Image courtesy Trash | Track, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"Trash Track: Reverse Engineering the Removal Chain" part of the Peabody Museum Trash Talk series of free lectures, is Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 5:30 pm at the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford St., Cambridge.

A public reception follows at the Peabody Museum, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge.